05/08/2008 | Our company

CULVER CITY, CA (July 16, 2008) – KARL STORZ Endoscopy-America, Inc., a global leader in minimally invasive endoscopic technologies and operating room integration, has announced an exclusive OR integration distribution agreement with LiveData, Inc., the leader in real-time data integration and display technology. Under terms of the agreement, KARL STORZ will add LiveData’s latest data integration and display capabilities to the KARL STORZ OR1® system. Combining LiveData’s OR-Dashboard™ with the latest OR1® technologies brings hospitals a true Patient-Aware Operating Room™, where the surgical team can focus more fully and effectively on the patient.

“Combining the strengths of our OR1® technologies with the innovative data integration and display capabilities of OR-Dashboard helps give surgical teams a complete picture of what is going on in the operating room right as it is happening,” said Connie Padden, Director of Technology Integration, KARL STORZ. “Additionally, hospitals gain a greater ability to optimize OR activities by streamlining and strengthening resource management. Most importantly, enhanced OR communication and smoother-running procedures mean enhanced levels of care for patients.”

The LiveData OR-Dashboard™ technology gives surgical teams a number of key benefits, including easy-to-read displays, comprehensive data integration, real-time updates of vital information, and enhanced communication among OR team members and other personnel. Vital information about both the patient and surgical procedure are seamlessly integrated and made available for the entire OR team to view.
Equipped with OR-Dashboard™ technology, OR® suites offer surgical teams a Wall of Knowledge™ that combines comprehensive real-time data from nursing, surgery and anesthesia systems, as well as surgical equipment, PACS images and lab reports. This data is then displayed on a large wall-mounted screen that is visible to the entire OR team.

Using these technologies to create a true Patient-Aware OR™ helps ensure that surgical teams have the right information at the right time, improving patient safety, easing communication among team members, promoting OR workflow efficiency and productivity, and helping hospitals capitalize on existing IT investments.
KARL STORZ will also provide sales and integration support for LiveData OR-Dashboard™ installations in hospitals nationwide. “LiveData has always been committed to partnerships that result in the strongest integration and visualization solutions for our customers,” said Philip Brzezinski, Vice President of Healthcare Systems for LiveData. “This integration distribution agreement signals a further advancement in patient safety and OR workflow. Combined with their established distribution and world-class, worldwide support network, KARL STORZ can now make this important technology more broadly available.”

By automatically gathering and displaying real-time data from disparate sources, the Patient-Aware OR™ reinforces consistent adherence to safety protocols and helps eliminate so-called “never events,” which are errors generally considered so threatening to patient safety that they should never happen. Communication within the OR team is also facilitated since each member has clear and automatic access to critical information about the patient, procedure and equipment.

Additionally, OR workflow efficiency and productivity are increased by streamlining interaction with other parts of the hospital to improve OR and PACU scheduling, ensuring that surgeon preferences are understood, and identifying missing tray and cart items before the team’s arrival. Hospitals can capitalize on their existing IT investments and accelerate payback from currently installed IT technology by collecting vital data from various systems, such as electronic medical records, pharmacy, lab and pathology systems.
“The addition of LiveData’s integration and display capabilities represents a logical extension of operating room advancement by collecting information from disparate medical and surgical systems to deliver real-time data streams to the latest visual display configurations,” said Padden.

The companies are also co-developing technologies that will extend their solutions and improve OR workflow and patient safety. “Surgeons expect, and deserve, environments that are engineered to optimize their effectiveness and deliver the best results for their patients. The Patient Aware OR is such an innovation,” said LiveData CEO Jeff Robbins. “This partnership is a big win for hospitals and patients alike. We are proud to be working shoulder-to-shoulder with KARL STORZ, whose reputation for professionalism and support is unparalleled.” For more information about the Patient-Aware OR™, visit www.livedata.com.